One Thing
by theSunlitEarth
Summary: When Percy Jackson lies in bed at night, alone in the dark, he sees things. Or, more specifically, one thing. A face with piercing gray eyes, framed by soft blonde curls haunts his thoughts, keeping him from sleep.


**A random one-shot I thought up...I think it's sweet. Hope you enjoy it, and please review!**

When Percy Jackson lies in bed at night, alone in the dark, he sees things. Or, more specifically, one thing. A face with piercing gray eyes, framed by soft blonde curls haunts his thoughts, keeping him from sleep.

He can't simply accept these thoughts though, because he knows that thinking about her is wrong. She has a boyfriend, a son of Hephaestus. If he thinks about her, it'll only hurt him, knowing that he can't have her. Maybe this is why he can't sleep at night; because he wants to think about her, but his logical thoughts conflict with his desires. And his desire is to think about her, be with her, touch her, kiss her, know that she loves him.

But she doesn't.

This hurts him more than anything. That after everything they'd been through so far, she didn't love him. She didn't even like him, at least not in the way that he wanted her to. They were friends; she had made that very clear already.

And it killed him inside.

He sat up in his bed, shaking his head, his jet black hair falling into his eyes. What did that Hephaestus kid - whatever his name was, Joel or Jeff or something - have that he didn't? As far as he knew, he was even better than Joel-Jeff, because he had saved people, numerous times. Joel-Jeff had just made the armour he wore.

Percy exhaled. He was entering the realm of pride, and he wasn't going to go there. He got up, slipping off the bed, his bare feet touching the cold stone floor of the Poseidon cabin, hoping the ocean would help clear his head.

The wet sand squished between his bare toes as he walked along the beach. If she were with him, he knew that she would be telling him that walking around the camp barefoot at night was a bad idea, because he could impale his foot on a rock, or something. He smiled, because that was what he loved about her; that she could express how much she cared about him while still sounding like a know-it-all. Of course, she cared about him in a strictly friends way.

That wiped the smile off his face.

Why could she not realize that he _loved_ her? To death. He would do anything for her, anything at all. He would _die_ for her. But she loved someone else.

He sat in the sand, not caring about his pajama pants. They could be washed later. He raised a hand, watching as the ocean water twisted to his will. The cascading droplets reflected the light of the moon, shining ostentatiously, as the arc of water dropped back into the ocean.

"Isn't it a bit late to be playing with the water?"

He turned at the sound of her voice. "Annabeth? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

She shook her head. "What a stupid question, Percy, when I should be asking you the same thing."

Percy turned absently back to the ocean, a slight sigh escaping his lips. He felt, more than saw, her sit down beside him.

"What's wrong?"

Percy began playing with the water again. "Nothing's wrong."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "I've known you long enough to know that something's wrong. You only come out here at three in the morning when there's something wrong."

"Does that mean there's something wrong with _you_?" Percy countered, not looking at her.

"Percy! Stop answering my questions with questions. I hate it when you do this!" Annabeth shook her head, glaring at him.

Percy shrugged. "Sorry." He dropped the snake of water he'd been playing with and looked at her. "But there's nothing wrong."

Annabeth stood up. "Fine then. You just play with your water. I'm going back to bed." She turned to leave, but Percy leapt to his feet, grabbing her wrist to stop her.

"Annabeth," he muttered before taking a quick step towards her and kissing her mouth. She didn't move at first, standing as rigid as a board, but after some coaxing by Percy, she began kissing him back. Their mouths moved together and as he parted her lips with his tongue he let out a small moan. The sound caused a thrill to go through her body and she twisted her hands in his black hair, pressing herself closer to him, as if they could meld together and become one person.

After mere moments, however, she pushed him away, gasping for breath. "Percy, I have a _boyfriend_."

Percy ran his fingers through his hair, breathing hard. "I'm sorry...I-I didn't mean to. I just...I can't help it anymore." He looked at her pleadingly. "I love you, Annabeth."

Annabeth inhaled sharply. "Percy, don't say that. You think I haven't been struggling with the same thing? I was hoping you didn't feel that way about me. Now you've made it impossible for me to stop thinking about you."

"You...love me?" Percy asked hopefully, unable to process anything else she said except the words that implied her possible love.

"Yes," Annabeth said, smiling sadly. "I love you, Percy. But this...this is bad."

Percy frowned. "How is it bad? Why on earth would it be bad?"

"I'll have to either break up with Jake, or we'll pretend this never happened."

"Why would we deny it?" Percy asked, consumed with a new passion for his cause. "If we love each other, why would we pretend we don't? What if one of us dies tomorrow, or next week? Why would we not spend the time we have together?"

Annabeth studied him, taking in his dishevelled black hair, his vulnerable green eyes, his sandy pajama pants, patterned with blue cartoon whales, the muscles tensing under the white cotton of his shirt. Somehow, even when he was covered in sand and sea spray, he managed to look sexy enough to make her breath catch in her throat.

She shook her head and a small smile graced her lips as she looked at him with endearment. "Percy, you're ridiculous." She closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him tightly. His shirt was soft under her cheek and smelled of the ocean.

Percy's shock quickly subsided and he returned her embrace, his chin resting on top of her blonde curls. "Does this mean you choose me?"

Annabeth nodded, relishing the sound of his voice resonating inside his chest. "Yeah, it does. You're right. Why date someone else when the perfect person for me is right in front of my face?"

Percy laughed. "That sounded lame. But that lame statement just made me the happiest man on the planet."

Annabeth looked up at him, grinning mischievously. "I don't know if I would call you a _man_ yet..."

Percy pushed her away playfully, looking pained. "That's my manhood you just impaled and left on a spike in the middle of camp for all to see."

"Maybe it'll help that big head of yours deflate some," Annabeth teased. She kissed his nose, then started running down the beach. "If you can catch me, consider your manhood restored," she yelled over her shoulder.

Percy laughed. "I'll hold you to that!" he called back, taking off after her, his heart feeling as feathery as the morning light.


End file.
